muppetfandomcom-20200223-history
Talk:Personal Interactive Desktop
Did this exist? I happened across this page again, and I googled it to see if I could find any other info... I can't find anything at all. I looked at the Wayback Machine's archive of ixposure.com, and this page is what they have for January 21, 2001 -- supposedly around the time that I-xposure was releasing Muppet content. It doesn't mention Muppets anywhere. There isn't any evidence on the web that anything related to the Muppets was released -- even on Muppet Central, which usually reports this kind of stuff. That January 21st page is the last page that the Wayback Machine has for the site. The next date that Wayback has is March 28, 2002 -- more than a year later -- and it shows that the site was abandoned. There is a site up now at Ixposure.com, but I think it's probably a different company. Angus added this page in January 2006. I'm sure that the info was based on something, cause Angus is a good guy, but he didn't say where it came from. My guess is that this product never actually came out. The info (probably) comes from a Jim Henson Interactive press release, and not from direct observation of the actual product. The Muppet PIDs were supposed to come out in January 2001, but it looks like the company probably folded around then. If the Muppet PIDs ever existed, they didn't exist for very long. If somebody has evidence to the contrary, that would be cool, but this is what I'm gathering from the evidence that I have right now. If we can't find any evidence to support the product's existence, then I'm going to suggest we delete the page. What do folks think? -- Danny (talk) 23:00, 6 January 2009 (UTC) : I posted that in January -- it's obvious that nobody knows. I think the information that I posted above is all that there is, and that information suggests that this product never actually existed. I'm going to delete the page... -- Danny (talk) 05:07, 28 July 2009 (UTC) ::Parking the original info: The Personal Interactive Desktop (PID) was a piece of software, developed by i-xposure, which provided themed desktop tools such as calendars and address books to allow companies to market their brands and products. Two Muppet-themed PIDs, based on the PlayStation games Muppet Race Mania and Muppet Monster Adventure, were released for free download in January 2001 as part of a one-year agreement with Jim Henson Interactive. The PID web site is no longer active. What is it? Scott won't let me delete this, so instead I'm going to ask what category it belongs in. This isn't a video game, so I don't think it belongs in Muppet Video Games. It's basically a marketing stunt about video games. In 1996, Dole put Muppet stickers on its bananas to promote Muppet Treasure Island. PID is basically the electronic equivalent of those banana stickers. Putting this article in Video Games is like putting an article about the banana stickers in Muppet Movies. -- Danny (talk) 23:45, 21 July 2006 (UTC) :Actually, that reminds me of my earlier question of how to categorize some of the items in companies, McDonald's etc., or for that matter Target. Maybe instead of a Fast Food category and sticking Target in toys, a "Marketing Tie-Ins" category or something, to include every company who has in some way produced Muppet stuff or just re-branded existing stuff as part of a specific promotional gimmick and not as part of a general retail line. Andrew Leal (talk) 00:05, 22 July 2006 (UTC) ::Hmm, that's an interesting idea. What else would go in that category? -- Danny (talk) 00:17, 22 July 2006 (UTC) :::Well, now that you've told us about it, Dole and its banana stickers! More seriously, if anyone wants to include the Boeing Muppet-named planes, they'd probably fit (not sure if or what the rights deal was there if they just borrowed the names without dealing with Disney or anyone, unlikely, but with "Kermit Kruiser," "Fozzie", "Beaker" and the "Honeydew," that's certainly a Muppet marketing strategy if there ever was one). Then there's Welch's jellies: we have two seperate articles on tie-in jars, Muppets in Space Welch's Jelly Jars and Welch's The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss Jelly Jars which really aren't merchandise as much as they are tie-ins, like the Dole stickers or PDI's deal, and could be bundled into one Welch's page. We could even include Wilkins Coffee, for producing the earliest Muppet toys as tie-ins. There's probably others, but those are the most obvious ones for me. Andrew Leal (talk) 00:28, 22 July 2006 (UTC) ::::I likes it. Let's make it happen. -- Danny (talk) 01:05, 22 July 2006 (UTC)